Sheet feeders



y 1962 A. ANDERSON ET AL 3,032,338

SHEET FEEDERS Filed June 19, 1958 I uventbrs Alfred Anderson Eugene A-Anderson fiww l' 52' JIM A-H'Orneys Filed June 19, 1958, Set. No.743,169 2 Claims. (Cl. 271-36) This invention relates to article orsheet feeders and particularly to feeders of the kind used in feedingcarton blanks, folded cartons and sheets and the like to printingpresses.

Sheet feeders of the aforesaid character have been made and widely usedin a form wherein sheets, cartons or the like are stacked in a hopperand are fed one by one from the top of the stack to the printing machinethat is associated with sheet feeder. Such feeders are often known astop feed or friction type feeders, and while such feeders are in a broadsense made in many different forms, illustrative examples are found inAlfred Anderson Patent No. 2,696,983, patented December 14, 1954 andAlfred Anderson Patent No. 2,733,919, patented February 7, 1956.

The primary use of friction feeders of this general type is in feedingsheets one by one from asingle stack thereof mounted in the hopper, butin certain instances, it is desired to print upon narrow sheets that maybe fed lengthwise from two separate stacks that are located in a side byside relationship in the hopper. With such arrangement, the sheets fromthe two stacks are separated from the stacks by separating rollers andthe sheets thus separated are advanced at the same time into engagementwith the pull out rolls of the sheet feeder so that they may then beadvanced in unison to the printing machine. The leading edges of the twosheets reach the pick up rolls at the same time, and in their furthermovement such leading edges reach the printing machine at the same time.

In the use of prior top feed sheet feeders for simultaneous feeding oftwo sheets, it has been found necessary that such sheets in the twostacks be of the same length, for otherwise the conventional sheetfeeders will not separate and feed satisfactorily.

In view of the foregoing it is the primary object of the presentinvention to enable sheet feeders of the aforesaid kind to separate andfeed satisfactorily from two stacks of sheets that are of differentlengths in the respective stacks, and a further and related object ofthe invention is to enable such simultaneous feeding of sheets ofdifferent lengths to be attained through the use of a structure that isextremely simple and inexpensive in character.

Other and further objects of the present invention will be apparent fromthe following description and claims, and are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, which, by way of illustration, show a preferredembodiment of the present invention and the principles thereof, and whatis now considered to be the best mode in which to apply theseprinciples. Other embodiments of the invention embodying the same orequivalent principles may be used and structural changes may be made asdesired by those skilled in the art without departing from theinvention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a top feed type of feeder equipped underthe present invention for feeding sheets of different lengthssimultaneously from separated stacks thereof;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are vertical sectional views taken substantially along thelines 22 and 33, respectively, of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the structure shown in FIG. 1;

3,032,338 Patented May 1, 1962 FIG. 5 is an end view of one of theseparating rolls; and

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view through the separating roll of FIG.5.

For purposes of disclosure the invention is illustrated herein asembodied in a sheet feeder 20 that is associated with a printing machine21 so that the sheet feeder may operate to separate articles such ascarton blanks or sheets from stacks thereof in the sheet feeder so as tofeed such sheets in succession to the printing machine 21. The sheetfeeder 20 in most respects is basically like that shown in the aforesaidAnderson patents, and reference is made specifically to such patents fordetails of structure and operation. Thus the sheet feeder 20 has ahopper 22 that slopes downwardly toward a discharge end, and upon whichhopper division or side walls 23 may be adjustably mounted for holdingstacks of sheets S in position in the hopper. Under the presentinvention provision is made for feeding from two separate areas in whichstacks of sheets may be located. In the present instance the inventionis concerned with the feeding of sheets of different lengths, and in theleft hand stacking area shown in FIG. 1, a stack of relatively shortsheets S-i has been illustrated, while in the right hand stacking area astack of relatively long sheets S-2 has been illustrated.

As shown in the aforesaid Anderson patents, the top sheet of a stack isseparated from the stack and is advanced in a forward direction out ofthe discharge end of the hopper 22 by means including an intermittentlyoperated separating roll which engages the top of the top sheet, andwhich cooperates with a stationary retard roll 25 that is locatedbeneath the separating roll. The separating roll, as shown in theAnderson patents, is mounted on an intermittently actuated separatingshaft 26 which is driven intermittently in a separating direction bymeans including a rock shaft 28. The rock shaft 28 carries an operatingpawl 29 that acts on -a ratchet wheel 30, and as herein shown theratchet wheel 30 is connected to a gear 31 and through gears 31A to theseparating shaft 26.

In the present instance, cooperating sets of separating rolls and retardrolls are provided opposite each of the stacks of sheets, and the lefthand separating roll is indicated as R-1 while the right hand separatingroll is identified as R2. The separating rolls R-1 and R-2 are mountedon the separating shaft 26, and under the present invention theseseparating rolls are actuated in unison in a separating direction whenthe separating shaft 26 is actuated, and the connection between the rollR-2 and the separating shaft 26 is such that the roll R-2 has anoverrunning action so that it may rotate in a separating direction withrespect to the shaft 26 as will be described in some detail hereinafter.This arrangement permits the withdrawing movement of the long sheets S-2to be completed without disturbing or inducing an undesired sheetseparating action in respect to the sheets S-1.

Thus, as will be evident in FIGS. 2 and 3, the sheets that are separatedby the rolls R-1 and R-2 are advanced into pull-out rolls 32 that areconstantly driven, as described in said Anderson patents, so that whenthe actuation of the separating shaft 36 has been terminated, theleading edges of the sheets will have been engaged by the pull-out rolls32 and the advancing movement of the sheets will be continued so as todeliver the sheet to the feed belts 33 which complete the movement ofthe sheets to the printing machine 21.

In FIG. 2 of the drawings, the top sheet S-l has been advanced by thepull-out rolls 32 to such an extent that the trailing edge of the sheetis out of contact with the separating roll R1, and the pull-out rolls 32are functioning to continue the advancing movement of this sheet. Whenthe trailing edge of sheet S1 has moved out of engagement with the rollR-l, rotative movement of the roll R-1 would normally stop, but it is tobe noted that such rotative movement of the roll R-l does continue solong as the sheet S-l remains in engagement with the roll R-l.

Now as to the longer sheet S42, attention is directed to FIG. 3 of the,drawings where the sheet 8-2 is shown as being advanced in the samelineal amount as the sheet S1 that is shown in FIG. 2, but the trailingedge portions of the sheet 8-2 is at this time still in engagement withthe roll R2 and is imparting rotative movement to the roll R-2.

Such rotation of the roll R2 will continue until the trailing edge ofthe sheet 8-2 has passed out of contact with respect to the roll R-2. Itis this continued action of the longer sheet 8-2 in producing rotativemovement of the roll R-2 that has heretofore made it impossible tosatisfactorily feed sheets of different lengths at the same time infeeders of this general type, and we have discovered that thisdifficulty may be avoided by providing for an overrunning connectionbetween the shaft 26 and the roll R2. Thus, as shown particularly inFIG. of the drawing, the roll R-Z has a central hub 35 that is adaptedto be fixed by a set screw 126A to the shaft 26, and the roll has anouter annular member 36 that is rub- 'ber covered as at 37, and themember 36 surrounds a portion of the hub 35 and has a plurality ofmovable clutch elements 38 that act between the member 38 and the member36 to drive the member 36 in one direction, and yet allow overrunning ofthe member 36 in said direction when this is required. The clutch thatis thus provided is of the quick pickup type so that when the shaft 26is advanced in its forward or separating direction, the rolls R-1 andR-Z will be actuated in unison to feed sheets S-1 and S-2 at the same,time.

In the present embodiment of the invention, the overrunning clutchconnection has been illustrated in association with but one of the rollsR.-1 and R2, the other roll R-l being secured directly to the shaft by aset screw 126 and with this arrangement the longer sheets S2 must inevery instance be disposed in the hopper opposite the rollers R-2. Ifdesired, however, the roller R-1 may have the same overrunning clutch asthe rolls R-2, and in such instances the long sheets may be disposed inposition opposite either of the separating rollers.

From the foregoing description it will be evident that the presentinvention provides for simultaneous feeding of long sheets and short.sheets from the hopper of a friction feed sheet feeder, and it will alsobe evident that this feeding operation under the present invention isaccomplished without danger of false or undesired feeding of sheets fromthe stack of short sheets.

Thus, while we have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment ofour invention it is to be understood that changes and variations may bemade by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit andscope of the appending claims.

We claim:

1. In a sheet feeder having a two compartment hopper in which sheets ofdifferent lengths may be stacked, separating means for separating thetop sheets from the respective stacks and initiating endwise movement ofsuch top sheets out of the hopper, constantly driven pull out means towhich such top sheets are advanced and which are then operable tocomplete the Withdrawal of the sheets from the hopper, said separatingmeans comprising two sets of cooperating separating rolls andnonrotative retard rolls with the sets disposed in operative relation tothe respective compartments of the hopper, a separator shaft upon whichthe separating rolls are mounted, a one-way ratchet drive forintermittently driving said shaft in a separating direction, connectingmeans for driving said separating rolls in unison with said separatingshaft in a separating direction, the connecting means for at least oneof said separating rolls being in the form of a one-way drive clutch.

2. A sheet feeder for simultaneously feeding sheets having differentlengths, said sheet feeder having a hopper with a discharge end,compartment means for locating sheets of different lengths in separatestacks in said hopper, a separator shaft extending across said dischargeend and having a one-way ratchet drive whereby the shaft isintermittently rotated in a separating direction, constantly driven pullout rolls into which sheets are fed from the discharge end of thehopper, sets of cooperating separating rolls and non-rotative retardrolls disposed in spaced relation at the discharge end of the hopperopposite the respective compartment means with the separating rollsmounted on and connected to the shaft for drive in unison by the shaftin said separating direction, the separating roll located opposite oneof said compartment means being connected to the shaft for free rotationrelative to the shaft in said separating direction to enable thepull-out rolls to complete their pull out action with respect to a blankwithout imparting rotation to the other separating roll.

References ited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 856,347Iahn June 11, 1907 2,093,384 Storck et al. Sept. 14, 1937 2,138,682Storck Nov. 29, 1938 2,224,137 Breman et al. Dec. 10, 1940 2,255,777Jones Sept. 16, 1941 2,359,856 Morse Oct. 10, 1944 2,518,221 CamphouseAug. 8, 1950 2,569,387 Robinson Sept. 25, 1951 2,665,906 Johnson Jan.12, 1954 2,670,954 Bach Mar. 2, 1954 2,734,743 Spurlino et a1 Feb. 14,1956

